Taylor Swift’s Record Box Office Proves Movie Theaters Don’t Need Big Studios

This isn’t the first time that a well-regarded artist has shown studios their power this year — girl power, specifically. Before «Barbie» became one of Warner Bros.’ biggest success stories in history, executive producer and star Margot Robbie made a huge bet on behalf of herself and writer-director Greta Gerwig and told the studios that if the movie’s creative team got their way, the movie would succeed. Gerwig ended up being exactly right: the movie easily crossed $1 billion within just a few weeks of its release and ended up becoming the fastest-grossing Warner Bros. movie in history as well as 2023’s biggest box office release (that figure, though, could end up being bested by Ms. Swift herself in October).

Even before «Barbie» came out, Mattel and Warner Bros. were nervous about the movie and found themselves balking at the jokes in it — but thanks to Robbie’s fierce advocacy for a project that is, above all, unique, smart, and deeply thought-out by Gerwig, her entire team, and Robbie herself, it proved that the studios aren’t really the ones succeeding in this story. Sure, Warner Bros. made a lot of money off of «Barbie,» but so did Robbie, and the fact that the creative vision behind this movie is what made it succeed should make studios nervous when seen in combination with this Taylor Swift situation, to say nothing of widespread public approval for 2023’s Hollywood strikes.